Washington Water Service Completes Purchase of Rainier View Water Company

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington Water Service (Washington Water), a subsidiary of California Water Service Group (Group) (NYSE: CWT), today announced it has completed the acquisition of Rainier View Water Company’s (Rainier View Water) water system assets, with approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. Washington Water is now providing water utility service to Rainier View Water’s 18,500 service connections.

Rainier View Water serves about 35,000 people in parts of Graham, Spanaway, Puyallup, Gig Harbor, and other nearby areas through its 27 water systems. With this purchase, Washington Water doubles its customer base in the state. Washington Water will continue to invest in local water system infrastructure to keep water service reliable for customers’ everyday needs and fire protection, and work to ensure customers continue to receive high-quality water and excellent service.

“We welcome Rainier View Water customers and employees into the Washington Water family, and we look forward to providing the same quality, service, and value we’re committed to delivering throughout our service areas and company,” said Group’s President and Chief Executive Officer Martin A. Kropelnicki. “We have been working to make the transition as seamless as possible for customers and employees, and we thank the Rainier View Water team and Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for all of their efforts over recent months to bring us to this point.” 

The Rainier View Water service area will now be known as Washington Water’s East Pierce Region. Local customers can still contact the office at [phone] or toll-free [phone], or online at [e-mail] or www.wawater.com.

About Washington Water Service and California Water Service Group
Prior to this acquisition, Washington Water Service provided regulated water utility service to about 46,500 people in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, King, San Juan, and Thurston counties, as well as wastewater service to Orcas Island.  California Water Service Group is the parent company of California Water Service, Washington Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, Hawaii Water Service, CWS Utility Services, and HWS Utility Services. Together, these companies employ 1,184 people who provide regulated and non-regulated water service to nearly 2 million people in California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii.  California Water Service Group’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CWT.” Additional information is available online at www.calwatergroup.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about the Company, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Such words as would, expects, intends, plans, believes, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to: ability to operate Rainier View Water in an accretive manner; natural disasters or calamities, public health crises, pandemics, epidemics, or outbreaks of a contagious disease, such as the recent outbreak of coronavirus (COVID‐19), or any escalation or worsening of the foregoing; governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; consequences of eminent domain actions relating to our water systems; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief and other actions; changes in water quality standards; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; electric power interruptions; housing and customer growth trends; the impact of opposition to rate increases; our ability to recover costs; availability of water supplies; issues with the implementation, maintenance or security of our information technology systems; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; the adequacy of our efforts to mitigate physical and cyber security risks and threats; the ability of our enterprise risk management processes to identify or address risks adequately; labor relations matters as we negotiate with unions; changes in customer water use patterns and the effects of conservation; the impact of weather and climate on water quality, water availability, water sales and operating results, and the adequacy of our emergency preparedness; and, other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph, as well as the annual 10-K, Quarterly 10-Q, and other reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements.

Media Contact
Tom Smegal (investors)
[e-mail], 408-267-8200
Yvonne Kingman (media)
[e-mail], 310-257-1434